green home energy helps to fight blight in detroit with the motor city blight busters

13 Oct green home energy helps to fight blight in detroit with the motor city blight busters

Local young entrepreneur helps local community, economy, and the environment through his company Green Home Energy

In the winter of 2008, when first thoughts of every college graduate in the state of Michigan were “where outside of this state can I move to?,” Mark Pytiak of Green Home Energy was not only an exception to this commonality, but a paragon for local Detroit young professionals to strive for. While all of his fellow graduates were fleeing to Chicago, New York, LA and everywhere in between, upon graduation from Western Michigan University in 2008, he chose to stay true to his Detroit roots and saw opportunity in a struggling economy to not only start his career, but to help the local economy, community, and the environment as well.

Green Home Energy (GHE) is a home performance contracting company based in West Bloomfield that specializes in making homes more comfortable and energy efficient, which in turn reduces homeowners’ monthly utility bills and carbon footprint. The process begins with an energy audit, in which a number of tests utilize tools such as the blower door and thermal imaging to diagnose the problem areas in a given home. Once issues such as air leakage or inadequate insulation are determined, energy efficient retrofits such as air sealing, insulation, or glass block are used to improve the overall functionality of a home to ultimately save money on utility bills. Homeowners can expect to see payback periods of 5-6 years or less, as well as receive up to $5,000 in cash rebates through GHE’s partnership with the Consumer’s Energy Home Performance with Energy Star Program.

The average GHE project utilizes contractors in several diverse areas – heating and cooling, insulation, glass block, etc. – all contractors who had been previously suffering from the slow economy and struggling housing industry. GHE has put many skilled tradesmen back to work, even causing them to hire more employees due to higher work volume, contributing to the revival of the housing market.

From its inception, Green Home Energy has been dedicated to giving back to the community – last year just months after its founding, GHE sponsored a group to take part in the Greening of Detroit organization, planting trees in downtown Detroit neighborhoods. This year, GHE is partnering with Motor City Blight Busters in a two fold effort.

First, GHE will be donating time and materials to make the Motor City Blight Busters’ “Urban Farm House” more energy efficient, reducing utility costs and the house’s carbon footprint, as well as making the home more comfortable for the resident master gardener. Second, GHE is sponsoring a group of volunteers for its second annual charity event to help the Blight Busters demolish vacant homes in Detroit on June 9th. Throughout this process, GHE will stay true to their environmentally friendly mission by reusing and recycling many parts of the homes they will be tearing down (reusing hardwood floors, recycling all metal, reusing 2×4 framing to build fences for the urban farm, etc.). To become involved in this great cause, contact Green Home Energy for more information.

Green Home Energy (GHE) is a home performance contracting company based in West Bloomfield that specializes in making homes more comfortable and energy efficient, reducing homeowners’ monthly utility bills and carbon footprint. For more information about GHE or how you can make your home more energy efficient, visit us on the web atwww.greenmyhomenow.com, or call (855) GREEN-70 (855-473-3670).